The Sidetracked Discussion of Hammerspace and Everything Else
by kuroXIII
Summary: After hiding in Danny Fenton's coat when his parents came by, Phantom got some questions to ask his partner. Danny does manage to answer it, but only after getting them both sidetracked and dipping into character development and plot first.


AN: This is sorta like an excerpt or skit (if you play the Tales games) of my Halfa Bonds AU. Mostly developing character and plot in this.  
This was actually intended to be a short fic about "Halfa Bonds" Danny's coat and how he uses the "Hammerspace" aspect to his advantage. Instead, it ended up turning into about 5 pages worth of possible plot material with a bit of humor.

Warning: Not beta-ed

Danny's eyes widen when he saw the small yellow flashing lights. "Oh crud! Mom and dad are coming! Hide somewhere quick!"

Phantom waved his arms frantically, both his spectral tail and his aura flickering about nervously. "This room is full of anti-ghost equipment! Where can I hide?"

Danny's eyes twitched towards the now flashing green lights and back to Phantom, quickly making a choice to reveal one of his biggest secrets to keep Phantom safe. With 15 seconds before the doors slides open, he hastily takes a hold of Phantom's shoulders and pulls the hovering specter down to his chest.

If Danny had the opportunity and time to properly look down to see Phantom's face, he would have observed that the strangely tanned skin of the ghost prince candidate was flushed with a green glowing complexion. "Danny, what are you doing?!"

"Just keep quiet for a few minutes okay? And whatever you do, don't move or make any sounds. Wish me luck." And without waiting for a response from the ghost, Danny promptly buttoned up his lab coat, hiding the ghost within.

_This was your plan? As oblivious as your parents are, I don't think they'll missed the fact that you suddenly gained your father's side of your genetics, Danny!_ Phantom clutched Danny's waist desperately, noted the human's ribs despairingly, and waited for the inevitable round of awkward questions. Also, making a memo to himself to feed his human.

Seconds went by. Then minutes. Eventually, he felt ridiculous and a bit bad for probably bruising Danny's sides. He had felt movements as if Danny was walking around, but there weren't any sounds of a suspicious interrogation or hands yanking him out of Danny's coat. In fact... he could barely hear anything. There was some mumbling sounds that came in two pitches; they were most likely Danny's parents. The third voice was easily identifiable as Danny's considering how he felt a strange vibration accompanying the rhythmical beat from Danny's chest whenever Danny spoke. Phantom briefly recalled a lesson from Clockwork that humans make vibrations in their vocal cords to speak, similar to an instrument.

It was... strange. In the darkness, he could see his own body, outlined by his white glow and Danny's body to a lesser extent. But there were other objects that were barely discernible as well. Many of which he was quite personally acquainted with.

Just when he finally drudged up the courage to move from Danny's body to confirm his suspicions, a ray of light blinded him as a familiar hand yanked him out of the darkness and into the familiar lights of the laboratory. Feeling a bit distorted after being in the darkness that was not of the Ghost Zone, it took a few seconds for Phantom to rearrange himself and to float upright instead of the nearly upside down angle he was in.

In that time, the young human had buttoned up his coat, uncharacteristically quick with a wary glance at the ghost. When Phantom regained his bearings, Danny promptly and quickly continued their conversation from before his parents interrupted them. "Now that my parents are busy, we need to get to this Clockwork figure you mentioned. But I would prefer it if we had more people to cover our backs. I think Tucker can rig up the systems so the higher ups won't notice that I'm missing. Jazz can cover for me with mom and dad. Sam and Valerie? Anyone looking will probably be too busy being intimidated by them to even ask the girls. I don't think Valerie will go for it so easily though. But if I ask nicely and bribe her with something, I think she'll pity me and my low paycheck to give in. Good? Good. We'll start tomorrow."

While Phantom could follow up throughout the rough sketch of a plan, Danny's ramblings didn't give him a place to interject his questions and he had to drag Danny back before he left, carefully covering Danny's mouth so he wouldn't start shooting out excuses or feel threatened by his actions. When Danny reluctantly met his gaze instead of looking off to the side, Phantom took that as permission to ask his question.

"Danny... you do not have to answer any of my questions if you really don't want to or if it is nobody's business but your own. However, since we are bonded partners ever since you named me, I would at least like to know more about my partner while we're fighting to end this foolish war." With that Phantom released the young man and waited for his response.

Danny gave him a sour look as he mulled over Phantom's speech. "Do you always have to sound so fancy like and literate when making convincing speeches?" When Phantom continued to give him the 'serious, but you can trust me' face, Danny sighed.

"It isn't actually a big thing to be secretive about actually. I just don't like people knowing about it. Back when I was a teenager, a lot of people always looked at me and just see a scrawny researcher who shouldn't be out in the field. So I made things that'll help give me an edge whenever I go out to help others or catch ghosts. Suddenly, all the wrong types of people started taking notice of me."

Danny walked over to one of the computers screens, bringing up an holographic image that every ghost and human today were familiar with. "The White Eagle!" Phantom gasped, remembering that hovercraft as one of the few vehicles of human technology that could actually work in the Ghost Zone. Seeing a small group of them armed with anti-ghost weapons shocked the ghosts and would've dealt a strong blow against them as surprised as they were. However, a strange thing happened. The moment those anti-ghost weapons started to charge, they shut down immediately, making the ghost hunter's confusion audible as they struggle to understand what happened. Then the engines started powering up and rocketed back the passengers back to the human cites they came from. Danny gave him a rueful smile.

"You can probably guess who came up with that lame name and what organization it came from. 'The White Eagle' was never suppose to be used for what the GIW intended. That's why even though it was modified to be outfitted with weapons, it was still easy enough for me and Tucker to reprogram it to come back. Although they tried to get me in trouble for that, I threatened to sue their butts off for trespassing, stealing my plans, and using them without properly testing them, endangering the lives of the hunters." A cheeky grin enveloped the young man's face as his ghost counterpart held a bewildered expression on his face. "Didn't think I had it in me did ya? That's okay, I was surprised, too. Even Dash doesn't bother me as much as he used to after that. Still keeps calling me names though..."

Mentally making a note to check who this "Dash" was, Phantom couldn't help but notice the longing glances Danny gave to the hologram of the hovercraft despite his distaste of the name and what the GIW did to it. "You mentioned that they modified it from its original purpose. What was it suppose to be used for then?"

Although Danny was surprised, his face softens and melted to one of fondness. "Actually, before I met you and got into the whole ghost business, I always wanted to be an astronaut when I was little. I was so obsessed with space back then. Had a toy rocket and everything. In fact, I based the original designs on that toy and changed it a bit for the purpose for meeting a ghost in their own territory instead of always having to catch them. Not that Jazz would allow it though. Too dangerous she said. So it's mostly waiting for the right time to use it."

Phantom smiled at the image of a young Danny playing with a "rocket". He wasn't really sure as to what they looked like but he can guess something along the line of that hovercraft. And managed to keep his smile from dropping when he realized that Danny will probably never accomplish his dream in this lifetime. Well... without help of course.

With that thought in mind, Phantom promised himself to do everything in his power to allow Danny to experience at least once, the vastness and beauty of the stars that Phantom had seen in his youth.

While Phantom was busy making a heartfelt internal promise, Danny waved his hand in front of Phantom's face a few times, amusing himself with the flashes of emotion flickering across his ghost's face. When Phantom looked like he was about done with his thing, Danny snapped his fingers, reminding himself to keep on track with Phantom's original intent and getting Phantom's attention. "Anyway, as to what my coat had to do with all this. It's actually for a rather simple reason."

Danny made a gesture towards the holographic image they were discussing a few minutes ago before closing it. "In order to prevent people from just stealing any of my works, whether they are made or still in design, I would gather the information into an electronic device to give to Tucker for safekeeping along with whatever invention I made, and just store them in my coat. Sounds easy right?" At Phantom's raised brow, Danny's lips trembled with the effort of keeping himself from smiling. All of Phantom's expressions were quite adorable...

"As you have experienced this yourself, no matter how large the objects, my coat will simply remain the same, with no outlines showing that I'm hiding anything. With an extra plus of detectors or other devices not finding anything either. Tucker's comic books inspired me actually and Sam came up with the simple design. My jumpsuit is also the same way to a lesser extent."

During Danny's explanation, Phantom found himself examining the coat itself. Holding out the flap a little, he can see something that looked like small pockets inside the coat. He couldn't find any indication of what made the coat this way so it must be hidden. He also doubted that was the only secret this coat held, judging by the blasts it has lived through without being burned all the way. Seeing how form fitting it was on his slender human, he wasn't surprised that others wouldn't believe that he was hiding anything.

With that explanation done with, Danny smiled and dragged his unsuspecting companion towards the exit. "As for sneaking you out of the compound, I was originally going to suggest the thermos to hide you in, but now that you know about my coat, maybe you could hide in there instead."

Phantom felt like he was being hit with a whiplash of emotions at this sudden change of topics. Danny was going to do what now?! "What?! Isn't there some secret door or passage way you have that won't be as embarrassing?" Don't humans have this thing with personal space? Danny was awfully unguarded for a human of his age.

Danny felt like there was a miscommunication somewhere in this conversation. Did Phantom feel embarrassed because he was taller than Danny which might make it awkward? He flashed the panicking specter with what he hope was a reassuring smile.  
"Don't worry! Although it was my first time having anyone inside me before and even though you were kinda big, everything turned out fine. You just gotta keep yourself from getting too nervous though, I think there's some bruises on my waist..." Danny absentmindedly unzipped his jumpsuit to his bellybutton, revealing some suspicious hand marks on his hips. At this point, Phantom felt like sucking himself into the Fenton Thermos. "Phantom? Are you okay? Why are you making that face?"

Somewhere in the vastness of the Ghost Zone, in a tower full of gears and clocks, lies an ancient ghost as old as time, laughing hysterically in an undignified matter, as his charge gaped and blushed at his concerned partner, in the mirrors that held the power to see all of time.

Extra:

"To be honest, preventing others from stealing and misusing my works was not the main reason I made this coat in the first place. Heh. It was more for convenience..." Phantom blinked, confused as to why Danny was rubbing the back of his head, ruffling his hair and blushing a light shade of pink as he grinned sheepishly. Was there something wrong?

"I, um. I actually made this coat so I can carry a ton of snacks along with my weapons, through the inspection site so nobody would find out since you're not allowed to bring snacks and you have to go through a lot of paperwork just for them to authorize your weapon..." He trailed off at the end of that quick speech, blush growing redder as he opened his jacket, littering the ground with unhealthy junk food and giant impossible weapons.

Manually lifting his jaw up, Phantom wonders if all humans were this strange.

AN: I don't think I can fully write out this AU. But if you want the links for the details to this AU, please PM me and I'll try to send you the links.

Thanks you for reading and please tell me if there are any mistakes or ways I can make this better.


End file.
